Isabel Medem

Isabel joined our team in 2022 as Innovation Manager for the Community-Led Innovation Partnership. She supports the development of locally driven solutions to humanitarian problems identified by people affected by crises. Isabel brings more than 13 years of experience in the field of social innovation, design thinking, organisational management and international development to the role.

Prior to joining Elrha, Isabel spent the last ten years leading the award-winning social enterprise, Sanima, which provides informal urban settlements in Lima, Peru, with a container-based sanitation service. As co-founder and CEO, Isabel helped to build a local team of 25 people, before taking on a role as adviser and Chair of the Board. Isabel has an academic background in international business management and gender studies, with an interest in postcolonial theories in development. In the past, Isabel has also worked in microfinance in Tanzania, Madagascar and Tajikistan, and, most recently, as strategy consultant for the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural rights in Chile.

Isabel cares deeply about making social innovation work from the perspective of those at the receiving end of systemic injustices, and she is passionate about bringing creativity, strategic thinking and agile work methodologies into the social innovation process.